Hub Arkush’s 2020 Bears report card: Tight ends

After the 2019 season, the Chicago Bears placed more priority on improving the tight end position than any other spot on the roster.

They made Jimmy Graham the first veteran tight end to sign with a new team in free agency and gave him the biggest deal of any free agent tight end last year. They added Demetrius Harris, who had played for Bears coach Matt Nagy in Kansas City. They used their top draft pick (No. 43) to make Cole Kmet the first tight end off the board in the 2020 draft. They brought back J.P. Holtz and Jesper Horsetd and added so many other prospects that they had as many as 10 tight ends under contract by late spring.

Once all the dust settled, Graham, Kmet, Harris and Holtz were active all season, and Horsted spent the season on the practice squad.

Positives: The Graham deal, widely panned at the time because of the $9 million guaranteed it included and his lack of production last season in Green Bay, produced far more good than bad.

Famously disinterested in blocking earlier in his career in New Orleans, he not only committed to blocking but was making an impact by the final third of the season.

Graham also brought previously unknown leadership skills to the locker room and became a valuable mentor for Kmet.

Most importantly, although he clearly has lost a step, he was one of the best red zone targets in the league, finishing the regular season with eight touchdowns.

Kmet had a typical rookie tight end season – it is one of the hardest positions in the league for rookies to excel at – with ups and downs, but he improved every week. As the season wound down, he showed flashes of why some analysts offered George Kittle and Travis Kelce comparisons before the draft.

Negatives: The Bears played far more two- and three-tight ends sets than we’ve seen before, explicitly to help in the running game, but after the first two weeks against the Lions and Giants, it didn’t help. The Bears remained one of the worst running teams in the league until after their Week 11 bye.

Harris made almost no contributions other than on special teams and took too many reps away from Kmet.

After showing intriguing promise as a U or move tight end his rookie season, Horsted never made it off the practice squad or got on the field this season.

Defining moments: Graham’s first Bears touchdown, with 13:39 to play in the opener at Detroit, jump-started the team’s miraculous fourth-quarter comeback. Combined with his two TDs two weeks later in another stunning comeback at Atlanta and a huge 12-yarder with 36 seconds left in the first half against the Bucs, it signaled that the Bears finally had found a real threat at tight end.

Contract status: Only Harris is a free agent, and we should assume a long shot to be re-signed.

Graham is interesting because the final year of his deal has a $10 million cap hit. Their is $3 million in dead money, but there still would be a $7 million cap savings if the Bears release him, and the team does have to find real cap savings somewhere.

Hub’s grade: B-

Although Graham and Kmet were positives, Harris added only seven catches for 45 yards on only 14 targets. Holtz never even got targeted. The blocking overall was just so-so, and the number of two- and three-tight end sets did little to improve the run game and limited the effectiveness of the passing game.

Hub’s plan: It’s hard not to be excited about Kmet’s upside, attitude and work ethic, and Holtz also is a true Y and fine as a No. 3 or No. 4.

If at all possible, I would find my cap savings elsewhere and bring Graham back to continue to mentor Kmet and provide an excellent red zone presence, and I would use him more as a true U, his specialty, while Kmet becomes the No. 1.

If the Bears can continue to develop Horsted as a solid second option at the U, they could be OK here if Graham is back, but I’d love to see them take another athletic prospect on Day 3 of the draft to come in and compete.

If Graham isn’t back, the U tight end becomes a priority they may have to consider in the second or third round of the draft.